General Assessment Review Guidelines

  • Do NOT appeal without checking that the assessed value is not too low. One owner in South Granville had his assessment increased a few years back.
  • Non receipt of notice is NOT an excuse for appealing late; If you do not appeal by January 31st (or the next working day if this date falls on a weekend), you can NOT appeal until next year;
  • Assessed value does NOT NECESSARILY equal market value or sale price.
  • “No increase” or a “decrease” do not necessarily mean the assessment is correct – it may have been incorrectly assessed in the past.
  • The value could be correct, BUT inequitable with your neighbors, and a reduction merited;
  • BCA do MASS appraisal which does not necessarily consider the specific details of each property.
  • Once you have made an appeal, you open up the whole question of the assessment and its classification. Although one component could be too high, some of the others could be too low and, upon appeal, it may result in an increase in the assessed value.
  • Have there been any changes to the property physically or economically in the last year?